The present invention relates to a rotary parachute including a canopy provided with rigging lines and composed of triangular segments which are sewn together to leave an apex opening and rotation slits in the region of the seams.
Rotary parachutes, as they are employed for submunition units ejected from a spin stabilized carrier casing and initially decelerated and caused to stop spinning, serve to convert the flight of the submunition unit to a stationary rotary descent, with the spin rate and the rate of descent being coupled together by way of the parachute characteristics.
German Offenlegunsschrift [laid open patent application] No. 3,941,806 and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 5,094,408 disclose a rotary parachute of the above mentioned type in which the canopy is composed of fabric segments each of which comprises a triangular section having its tip at the apex omitted and which, on its outer circumference and at one side, is extended by a trapezoidal section. The lateral trapezoidal section serves to form a tangentially directed air exit nozzle while the trapezoidal section at the outer circumference serves to provide a drawn-in guide zone, with horizontal stabilizing slits being provided between the triangular section and the trapezoidal section at the outer circumference. Aside from the fact that the fabric segments are cut according to a relatively complicated pattern with concomitant loss of material, it is not possible to easily adapt the rotary parachute to required performance data.